The rich history and scenic beauty of Ketchikan lays the groundwork for visits to many interesting attractions.
The heart of downtown is Ketchikan Creek; where the earliest visitors, Tlingit natives, set up summer fish camps along its shores. Ketchikan Creek’s shoreline bends and curves past Creek Street, a pedestrian thoroughfare consisting of wooden boardwalks. During prohibition and in later years, buildings on the street housed several bordellos. Today, restaurants, galleries and gift shops are popular stops for visitors. A funicular tram glides up the hillside offering a birds-eye view of the downtown area and arrives in the lobby of the Cape Fox Lodge Hotel and its impressive display of Alaskan Native artifacts.
Outside the main entrance the Gathering of the Clans totem collection can be viewed, and there is easy access to the Ted Ferry Civic Center, a modern meetings and conventions facility with a dramatic backdrop of Deer Mountain.
A walk through the forested path of the Married Man’s Trail will return you to Creek Street. Or follow Venetia Way to Park Avenue for a brief walk to the Deer Mountain Tribal Hatchery and Eagle Center and the Totem Heritage Center.
At the mouth of the creek, The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show showcases the skill of woodsmen competing against each other in events like log rolling and tree-climbing. Next door, the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center is an outstanding interpretive facility highlighting the commercial, recreational and cultural significance of the Tongass National Forest among Alaskans.
South of town, the Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary combines a walk through the rainforest and shoreline area with an overview of early timber operations in the area. Sister attraction, Alaska Canopy Tours, provides an exhilarating “zip line” tour through the tree tops of the forest. A few miles further south, the George Inlet Cannery provides a historical perspective on the fishing industry as visitors walk through the site’s original buildings and display of equipment used in the 1940s.